This is Martin's early film. Many directors like to use their hometown or people familiar with them as their debut. Martin is no exception. "Poor Streets" has a semi-autobiographical nature, which reflects the colorful United States that the director knows. "Little Italy" in China is shown to everyone.
Martin likes to focus on deep social issues. Also won the reputation of a film sociologist. The Italian-American is the ethnic group that Martin is most familiar with.
As a superpower, the United States has extremely complex social patterns. Most people in the United States have their own subculture. When a certain group of a society forms a way of life that includes not only certain characteristics of the main culture, but also some cultural elements that other groups do not possess, this group culture is called a subculture. The subculture may be based on racial or ethnic differences, such as the black American subculture. The subculture may also be based on the original nationality, such as Mexican-American, and the Italian-American subculture reflected in this film.
This subculture collides with the main culture of the United States, and there are frictions between different subcultures. Many problems and contradictions have arisen. For example, the film "Poor Streets" at least reflects the collision between blacks and Jews and Italian Americans.
As it happens, the black and Jewish characters in this film are all women, and they are all low-level women. The protagonist Charlie didn't even dare to meet his favorite black woman on the street because it was too embarrassing.
There are at least eight major underworld criminal groups in the world, led by the Italian-American group. In many films, such as "The Godfather" and "Once Upon a Time in America", they have successfully shaped the image of the Mafia among Italian-Americans. Through the film, we have seen bloody gangs. Of course, there are also movies that focus on the living conditions of the bottom Italian Americans in the real world, such as Spike Lee's "Do as it should be".
"Poor Streets" is a seemingly joke but very sad story.
The characters in the play have nothing to do, quarrels and fights for no reason, and absurd things like raising leopards. The scene is always fixed in a dark street or a dark bar, which makes people feel depressed and dull. They are a group dominated by men. Women, such as Tereza in the film, are always at a disadvantage and have no right to speak.
In fact, the main line of the story is very simple, but Charlie always helps Johnny, and Johnny bastard again and again. Finally, Johnny was beaten bloody in the chase of loan sharks, Charlie, Johnny, and Tereza shouted in fear in the dark streets, and the blood was flowing in the dark night of America.
The director does not want to focus on such a bloody story itself, he just shows a chaotic Italian-American group through this. The final ending is a heavy blow to the audience. In the cheerful music, in the dimly lit American streets, it leaves Italian-Americans with some tingling feelings.
Some people say that one of Martin's greatest contributions was the discovery of Robert De Niro. They thought "Taxi Driver" was the first collaboration between Robert De Niro and Martin. Today I saw Robert De Niro, a younger, more vigorous and young man.
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